The EU’s high representative for foreign affairs, Josep Borrell said EU’s foreign affairs ministers will discuss the situation in Afghanistan on Tuesday afternoon via videoconference, according to Politico.
Borrell framed the conversation as a “first assessment” and added that “Afghanistan stands at a crossroad. Security and wellbeing of its citizens, as well as international security, are at play.”
The EU’s Political and Security Committee, composed of EU ambassadors, will meet on Monday afternoon to discuss the situation in Afghanistan.
President Ashraf Ghani escaped from Afghanistan on Sunday as the Taliban marched into Kabul without opposition, saying he wanted to avoid bloodshed. Chaotic scenes unfolded at the international airport as countries raced to evacuate staff and footage showed people clinging onto U.S. planes departing from Kabul.
Five people were killed in chaos at Kabul airport on Monday, witnesses said, as people tried to flee a day after Taliban insurgents seized the Afghan capital and declared the war against foreign and local forces over, according to Reuters.
It was not immediately clear how the victims died. A U.S. official said troops had fired in the air to deter people trying to force their way onto a military flight that was set to take U.S diplomats and embassy staff out of the fallen city.
One witness, waiting for a flight out for more than 20 hours, said it was unclear if the five had been shot or killed in a stampede. U.S. officials at the airport were not immediately available to comment.